McLaren encouraged as Canada update sparks fresh threat to F1 rivals

Andrea Stella said McLaren was “encouraged” by the performance of upgrades in Miami ahead of a new round of improvements at this weekend’s race in Canada.

Formula 1 returns this weekend with the Canadian GP and after the team’s best performance of the season last time out in Miami, McLaren boss Stella was confident about the potential of the reigning constructors’ champions.

Andrea Stella ‘encouraged’ by McLaren upgrade process

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McLaren secured its first double podium of the season in Miami with Lando Norris in P2 and team-mate Oscar Piastri one spot behind, which marked a clear improvement from the previous races.

An unexpected break due to the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix gave every team a chance to work on their car but McLaren appears to have made the most of that opportunity.

“If we look at the competitive scenario, we now have four teams that are separated by a very little lap time,” he said in Miami.

“Probably Mercedes still has some advantage, but otherwise, if we look at whoever could have scored the pole position in the sprint pole, it could have been Antonelli, could have been Leclerc, it could have been one of our two drivers. It could have been Verstappen.

“So the four teams are so close now that actually the difference may be more about execution and optimization and adaptations to the conditions, rather than one team being dominant.

“It’s a positive day, and it’s positive news for McLaren, because it means that upgrades, they have worked well. When we look at the list of upgrades taken here, I think in order of quantity, Ferrari had a more consistent group of upgrades than Red Bull, than McLaren. So we are happy that we could have all the performance on the car.

“Like we have said already, we kept no secret. We will have some more stuff coming for Canada. So we are quite encouraged.”

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Norris said it would be “silly” not to take confidence from his P2 but said Montreal was a track that always saw Mercedes perform well. A Silver Arrows driver has been on the podium every race since 2013.

“I think you’d have to feel silly if you don’t feel confident about the future when we improved so much this weekend,” Norris said. “We also know it’s a track that suits us.

“I’m always that guy that looks at things on the slightly more glass-half-empty side, but this is a track that suits us and in the past has not suited the Mercedes quite so well.

“Yet they were still very fast, and we’re going to go to a track that Mercedes have probably been the best at over the last five, six years. So, we have to wait and see.

“I know we’re bringing upgrades, but in Formula 1 it’s too easy to judge things over one race. You need to see how you are over a number of races and different styles of track: street circuits, hot tracks, cold tracks, tight and twisty, fast circuits.

“So, there’s no point getting ahead of ourselves. We’ve had a very good weekend, I’m very proud of the team, but I also want to make sure they keep pushing and keep trying to improve things, because we still need that.”

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